Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan have announced plans for an urgent meeting of their military chiefs of staff to discuss ways to support the kingdom under the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement.
The announcement followed a meeting in New York between Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, according to the Saudi Press Agency. No date was given for the military chiefs' meeting, and no specific form of support was outlined.
The three countries signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement on August 7 to strengthen collective deterrence and expand defence cooperation. The pact stipulates that an attack on one of the three countries is considered an attack on all of them.
Their foreign and defence ministers and military chiefs met in Istanbul on August 31 for the first meeting of the Strategic Political and Defence Committee, where they agreed to establish a secretariat in Saudi Arabia and to deepen military cooperation.
Thursday's foreign ministers' meeting also condemned attacks targeting Mecca as well as civilian and economic facilities in Saudi Arabia, and affirmed the kingdom's right to defend itself under Article 51 of the UN Charter.
The diplomatic moves came as Saudi Arabia reported a fresh wave of attacks from Yemen. Saudi Arabia said its air defences shot down six ballistic missiles launched towards Taif and Yanbu on Thursday.
Coalition spokesman Major-General Turki al-Malki said further Houthi escalation would be "dealt with firmly." Saudi Civil Defence authorities issued alerts in several areas before later announcing the danger had passed.
The Houthis separately claimed missile and drone attacks on a "sensitive target" in Riyadh and on Saudi Aramco facilities in Yanbu.
France also announced it would provide defensive support to Saudi Arabia. President Emmanuel Macron said Paris would send military assets to help protect Yanbu. "We are going to send military assets, meaning soldiers, radars and defence systems to protect this site," Macron said in an interview with TF1 on Thursday.
The cross-border attacks have coincided with some of the heaviest fighting inside Yemen since hostilities escalated again. Fighting across several fronts killed at least 150 combatants — 98 on the government side and 52 from the Houthis — in the 24 hours leading into Friday, according to a tally compiled by sources. Clashes were reported around the Kahboub Mountains and areas between Lahj and Taiz overlooking the Bab al-Mandeb strait.
The Houthis have also expanded their presence along Yemen's Red Sea coast, including by seizing the port city of Mocha and strategic islands, strengthening their position around Bab al-Mandeb, one of the world's busiest shipping corridors. Approximately 12 percent of global trade normally passes through the waterway, according to reports.
Yemen's internationally recognised government has urged greater international involvement, warning at the UN General Assembly that Houthi control around the strait poses a wider economic risk. Vice President Abdullah Abdulkader Al Alimi-Bawzer accused the Houthis of using freedom of navigation as leverage, saying their actions were "taking hostage the entire global economy."
The renewed fighting has forced more than 230,000 people from their homes since the beginning of September, according to the UN refugee agency, as clashes spread across multiple front lines. That displacement adds to approximately 5.2 million people already internally displaced across Yemen.
